Patel vs Nehru

There is fallacy in pitching Patel against Nehru. They were never opponents. Without Nehru's support Patel could not have achieved anything. In fact it has been bane for this nation that collective achievements are credited to individuals because of the position they hold. Manmohan Singh is repeatedly credited with Reforms'90 as if Narsimha Rao never existed who revived retired career professional and brought him to politics and provided opportunity to excel by extending his support. If you like to dig deeper you won't be able to ignore V. P. Menon who was real practical 'instrument' making possible integration of 500 states into Union and actions at Hyderabad and Junagarh . I remember my father telling us story about the eloquence of Menon at capital of Sirmur State , Nahan, when he asked Raja, in a public gathering (where he was present), to sign instrument of accession . Who gives credit to this man ? NONE. There are numerous examples where collective achievements were credited to individuals. That does not mean to lower esteem of leaders like Patel, Nehru or Ambedkar. In fact they themselves would have laughed at so much of faith for every,otherwise collective act, put on them. They were great leaders who provided steam to the engines which traversed the success path . But we should not create illusions by looking at history with bias of our personal liking.

Occupy Wall st: Real malice, India must identify, control and check as primary deed of nation building.

Occupy Wall st.: 'When companies, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments....' all sounds familiar. While whole nation in India for an year,is running ( hunting -if not precisely witch hunting) after Govt. , Govt. servants and ministers only, the real culprits, the greedy companies , banks, traders and shopkeepers wearing sheep's clothing, are becoming bolder. For every act of corruption it's some businessman/company, who is key player and benefits most , thousands times more than what he pays as bribe. And same business man organizes free water/food for anti-corruption protesters !! And runs TV channels castigating some greedy individual who fell for them. Or sells magical remedial concoctions in name of religion and evades tax. Makes you pay for mobile services you never ordered. Sells you products/groceries with 10 times margins added. Escalates transportation tariffs 'hundreds of times-at many stages-overall' every time even a rupee is added to fuel cost by Govt.-and people are goaded to throw stones at Govt. also. They pay thousands time more than what comes out, as bribe which goes undetected because 'projects' are successfully completed favoring all stake holders-it's only if the contract fails there are queues of whistle-blowers. This is malice, India must identify, control and check as primary deed of nation building .

Women, you are brains not body....!!

Media( advertisement, news,films,print) has been giving us what THEY want and then rationalize it as if that's what WE want !!! That's the biggest myth they themselves evolved and spread. If I am tickled I am bound to laugh but that does not mean I WANTED it first place ...!! Media projects women as toys without brains, where body is all important ..and this is gonna happen in reality , if we continue to let them run amok !!

Remembering Dr. Shankari of Nanavati Hospital ..

Dr. Shankari, used to be gynecologist at Nanavati hospital at Parle, Mumbai in eighties and  nineties, I don't precisely know why I remember her suddenly today. She used to invoke such fear or rather awe among us husbands that most of us, who used to accompany their wives on visits to her, used to dread the thought of the appointment day itself. 

Two decades back this lady, I recall, used to come driving her Maruti-800 car, at that young age of 70 and used to silence the crowd waiting for her with her mere presence. 

Her advices to the would-be moms were certainly worthy however she used to give those long lectures to the husband on how they must treat 'delicate' wives well. The sessions were grueling for men. 

But in end, I, like many of my friends always feel proud of this fact that we went to Shankari !! She was an iconic doctor. 

I wish her well wherever she may be...

(Both my son Siddharth( 1992) and Soumya (1995) were born in Nanavati in her care)

If you are Indian you can't be above Indian Constitution. Are you?

Individuals are supreme in Jungle not in any civilized developed society. Even family has rules, nations have more formal rules. Those who are calling for individual supremacy above constitution are digging at foundation this nation stands on and is a dangerous premise which should warn at least those organizations who have been supporting them.

I am afraid Kashmiris and NorthEastern separatists are going to be jubilant on such trash irresponsible postures of popular leaders like Anna.

It is time Electronic Media understand that it has itself created need for impartial and independent control over its misuse

Unlike newspapers,where individual news goes through some process of inside controls and filtered through 'theme' ( every newspaper has a 'color' of its tradition and ownership), Television news has emerged as uncontrolled media which is steered mostly by irresponsible shouting anchors spewing views on any damn subject under the sky on their own. The format itself doesn't leave much chance of inside 'organisational' control . There must be outside system to check it and punish delinquency. Control may be independent of Govt but should be capable of punitive action and not mere symbolic.

One who died today, Steve Jobs, enabled millions find new opportunities to live

The one who died today was instrumental in creating thousands of job opportunities for comfortable living of millions of people across the globe who otherwise would have lived in poverty, this number would exceed those who are still unfortunate and are not able to come out of the confinement from crass politics which survives on seeing them dying of hunger.

Why do Indian companies need to buy shale gas acreages abroad?

Exporting gas is capital intensive industry and would require huge investments for creating terminal facilities. Are we ready to commit such investments if we acquire shale gas blocks abroad and want it to be exported to India?

Economics will have to be worked out because gas, though cheaper locally, may become quite expansive if imported due to add-on cost of liquefaction. India, considered one of the largest holders of the shale gas energy would be ready field for local companies to venture .

Why is it necessary for companies like ONGC to get into shale business abroad unless it is pure business and not an energy security proposition? Other companies venturing out to buy into shale gas blocks may be doing so to get techno-commercial expertise before bidding starts for Indian shale reserves.